Carter may make sizable impact at running back

Mark Fainaru-Wada, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published
4:00 am PDT, Sunday, August 22, 1999

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Carter may make sizable impact at running back

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

STANFORD - It is 11 a.m. on an unusually cool day down the Peninsula, and another fall football practice has just ended. The players jog off the field in groups: receivers, defensive linemen, offensive linemen, quarterbacks, on and on. Now come the running backs, except that there appears to be a stray linebacker in their midst.

There is one kid, a big kid - 6-feet-2, 225 pounds - you just can't miss amongst the mix, the tallest skyscraper in an otherwise average-to-smallish looking city of buildings. Don't even bother checking the roster. That must be Kerry Carter.

Now, remember, Kerry Carter is just a freshman. A true freshman, which means that everything from this point on is about hype and hope, about potential and possibility. And you must broach the topic of freshmen - or worse yet, a particular freshman - gingerly with Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham.

Most of the time, freshmen don't play for Willingham. They do what freshmen are supposed to do. They get acclimated, they learn the system, they spend a year adjusting to the rigors of a rigorous educational setting and a faster brand of football. They redshirt. Willingham joked the other day, "I like freshmen. (Pause) They make good sophomores."

Which, of course, is the only way to approach things, the only reasonable way to keep the hype from bubbling over.

All that said, Kerry Carter could mean a lot to Stanford, and he could mean it this very season - a year when the Cardinal need to win in the wake of consecutive losing seasons, and in the wake of a 3-8 1998 in which their running game was dead last in the Pac-10.

So, who exactly is Kerry Carter? He is from Canada, which were he here to play hockey would seem a natural but because he's here to play football makes him an enigma. Particularly since a teacher's strike in his Toronto school district forced the cancellation of most of his games last season. In fact, Carter played in just one contest during his senior year.

This much we know: In a 1998 summer league - that's apparently bigger than the high school brand in Canada - he rushed for 2,300 yards and 22 touchdowns in an 11-game season; during his sophomore prep season, he averaged nearly three touchdowns per game; the recruiting gurus loved him; Stanford beat out Ohio State, among others, for his services; Notre Dame was reportedly frothing for a shot at him.

"The only way to describe him is there wasn't anyone like Kerry in Canada," said John Simas, Carter's summer-league coach. "There was just no other back of his size, his speed, his agility anywhere in Canada."

Simas then mentioned Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer, another of the few Canadians who have trickled into the American college ranks.

"Jesse was so good that he made everybody else look bad," Simas said. "When people are playing against Kerry, it doesn't matter who they are, Kerry makes them look bad."

Already, Carter has made an impression at Stanford. He came to campus in the summer to begin workouts early with his new team, a rare move that gave him a jump-start on getting used to the system and could be a factor in his readiness this year.

He actually wanted to show up in the spring, having already finished his high school requirements, but Stanford frowns on that sort of thing, so he had to wait until mid-June.

"I got a good chance to work out with the team, get in condition," said Carter, still with a touch of an accent from Trinidad, where he was born. "That helped a lot because I feel like I'm in a lot better shape now and in a lot better shape than I would have been if I had stayed back home and just trained myself."

Running backs coach Buzz Preston said Carter stands to have a big future at Stanford, and that the early arrival helped considerably in allowing the 18-year-old to get acclimated.

But now or later? Carter hardly seems like he will be fazed by whatever he ends up doing this year, or in the future. The oldest of three boys born to Virginia Douglas, Carter's parents split when he was 8 and his mom took the kids to Canada.

There, with his mother working long hours as an emergency-room nurse, Kerry assumed responsibility for his brothers. The only reason he wound up playing football was because his siblings wanted to play and his mom wanted Kerry to keep an eye on them.

"Kerry took everything on his shoulders. . . . He is so gentle," Douglas said. "He's just a very nice, pleasant young man. His brothers simply adore him."

Carter called home the other night after a long, busy day. By the time he had a chance to phone, it was 1 a.m. in Ontario. The next morning, Douglas told her 16- and 13-year-olds that Kerry had called and they chastised her for not waking them.

So you've got the child whose mom said she thanks God for letting her be a part of his life, and then you've got the running back whose former coach described as your prototypical lead-by-example player, no rah-rah, no over-the-top theatrics. Level-headed, focused, determined, with the whole package.

Said Simas: "I know he almost sounds too good to be true, but he is." &lt;